Biblical Inspiration
Dynamic Inspiration
Mechanical Dictation
Organic Inspiration
Organic Inspiration
Inspired by God:
2 Peter 1:21 – “…no prophecy of Scripture had its origin in the
will of man.”
2 Tim. 3:16 – “All Scripture is God-breathed…”
Acts 4:25 – “You spoke by the Holy Spirit through the mouth of
your servant, our father David…”
Using the vocabulary & style of human writers:
Example: Luke 1:1-4
Organic Inspiration
Paul’s style: long sentences, extensive vocabulary, complex
grammar, high literary style.
One sentence in the original Greek: 14 For this reason I kneel before the
Father, 15 from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name. 16
I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power
through his Spirit in your inner being, 17 so that Christ may dwell in your
hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in
love, 18 may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp
how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, 19 and to know this
love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all
the fullness of God.
Ephesians 3:14-19
Organic Inspiration
John’s style: short sentences, basic vocabulary, simple
grammar, style of a fisherman!
One sentence in the original Greek: 24 This is the disciple who testifies to these
things and who wrote them down. We know that his testimony is true.
John 21:24
Wild Papyrus
A common plant found along the
river banks of Africa, Palestine,
and the Mediterranean Sea. The
stalk is “stringy,” such that the
papyrus-maker removes the
strands, and lays them out in
parallel and in multiple layers to
form ancient paper. The longer
the strands, the wider the sheet
that could be made. This is the
writing medium of the original
New Testament manuscripts.
Scribes
ANCIENT
COPY
MACHINES
Fragment of Ancient
Manuscript
ca. 120 AD
From the Gospel of John, this
papyrus fragment is from an early
copy of the New Testament.
Because of its date, it was
produced by a scribe not long after
the apostle John's death.
Early Complete
Manuscripts of
NT, ca. 300400 AD
Later manuscripts are
better preserved, and can
be found in complete
books instead of just
fragments. This
manuscript is called
Codex Vaticanus.
Canonicity
Clement, bishop of Rome, in 96 AD:
For thus saith the holy Word: “The Lord hath severely
chastened me, yet hath he not given me over to death” [Psalm
118:18]. “For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and
scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.” [Hebrews 12:6].
1st Clement to Corinthians 56:3,4
Other early church fathers, direct disciples of the apostles,
quoted from the NT extensively as Scripture: Polycarp, Papias,
Ignatius, and others
Canonicity
3rd Council of Carthage, 339 AD
Canonicity
Four Tests of Canonicity:
 Apostolicity
The writing must have been written by an apostle, or close associate of an
apostle.
 Godly Content
The writing must have the majesty and style of having been written by
God.
 Universality
The writing must have already been adopted universally by the churches.
 Divine Inspiration
The writing must have already been considered as God’s Word, not just a
good book.
Canonicity
Gospel of Thomas?
Simon Peter said to them: Let Mary go away from us, for
women are not worthy of life. Jesus said; Le, I shall lead her,
so that I may make her a male, that she too may become a
living spirit, resembling you males. For every woman who
makes herself a male will enter the kingdom of heaven.
Thomas 114
Written around 150 AD
Lacks godly content
Not universally accepted as Scripture by early churches
No evidence of early Christians accepting it as inspired
Canonicity
Apocrypha: Catholics have them, why not us?
Tobit, Judith, 1 & 2 Maccabees, Ecclesiasticus, Baruch were
written around 150 BC.
• Not found in the Hebrew Old Testament
• Jesus never quotes from them.
• New Testament never quotes from them as being
Scripture.
• Ancient Hebrew Jews never considered them as
Scripture.
25,000 Ancient NT Manuscripts
Standard Greek
Bibles
After a careful examination
and study of the 25,000
ancient Greek manuscripts of
the New Testament, scholars
will compile a standard Greek
text. If there are any
differences between
manuscripts, these “variants”
will be noted at the bottom of
the page, with an listing of
manuscripts supporting each
version. Nestle-Aland is the
name of Greek text behind
most modern English
translations such as the NIV.
Textual “Variants”
KJV: “…peace on earth, goodwill to men.”
NIV: “…and on earth peace to men on whom His favor rests.”
How Reliable Are Ancient Manuscripts?
Very little difference over 1,000 years
Isaiah 51:17-19 – “Awake, awake! Rise up, O Jerusalem, you who have drunk from the hand of
the Lord the cup of His wrath, you who have drained to its dregs the boglet that makes men
stagger. Of all the sons she bore there was none to guide her; of all the sons she reared there
was none to take her by the hand. These double calamities have come upon you – who can
comfort you? – ruin and destruction, famine and sword – who can (how can I) console you?
Dead Sea Scrolls – 100 B.C.
Masoretic Text – 900 A.D.
Early Translations
There were many attempts to translate the
Bible into the vernacular tongue, such as
Wycliffe's Bible in English. Most of these
were subsequently burned by the Roman
Catholic Church and never made it into the
hands of the people. The Church also
burned Martin Luther's Bible, shown left.
But copies survive, even until today,
because of a particularly important
invention.
Translation Philosophies
Literal
Dynamic Equivalent
Free
(See Leader’s Academy Series, pg. 174)
Bible Translations
Over 3,000 translations
Over 5,000 left to go
Attributes of Scripture
Authority
Perspicuity (clarity)
Necessity
Sufficiency
Authority:
Verbal Inspiration
Plenary Inspiration
Infallible
Inerrant
“The Bible was written so long ago, all kinds of errors and changes
must have crept in, so that it is unreliable.” How would you
respond?
“If we don’t have the original manuscripts, how do we know that
our modern Bible is God’s Word?”
“We need to discover the hidden messages in the Bible. For
example, it foretells John F. Kennedy’s assassination, the moon
landing, etc. We now have computers that can easily count every
150th Hebrew character, and string them together to discover the
secret messages.” How would you respond?
“We believe in the infallibility of the Bible, but not inerrancy,
because the Protestant Reformers never used such a word.”
How to Study the Bible
●
Get the Big Picture
– Know the geography
– Know the writer
– Know the date of writing
– Know the historical background
– Write an outline after trying to read
the book in one sitting, if possible.
How to Study the Bible
●
Study the details
– Divide the book into “chunks”
according to your outline.
– Give each “chunk” a title
– Ask as many questions as you can
about the text.
– Find the answers using standard Bible
tools (e.g. Bible encyclopedia)
– Make a summary in your own words.
How to Study the Bible
●
Let God Speak (for each “chunk”)
– God ______________.
– Christ _________________.
– Therefore, I _________________.